The present invention relates generally to food slicers and, more particularly, to a food slicer gauge plate the front and back portions of which are attached in an improved manner.
Typical reciprocating food slicers have a rotatable, circular or disc-like slicing blade, a carriage for supporting the food as it is moved past the cutting edge of the slicing knife, and a gauge plate against which a surface of the food product lies for determining a thickness to be sliced therefrom upon movement past the slicing knife.
The gauge plate is situated along one edge of the knife. It is laterally movable with respect to the knife for determining the thickness of the slices to be cut. The gauge plate is mounted on the base of the slicer parallel to the face of the knife.
In conventional slicers, the portions of the gauge plate were connected to each other by means of screws. Therefore, holes were required to be drilled in all portions of the plate. This is disadvantageous since food particles can get lodged in the holes and the crevices created by the screws in the holes. In order to solve this problem sometimes caps were placed over the holes to prevent contamination. Additionally, rotation of multiple screws or nuts in the prior art assemblies is labor intensive. Other prior art assemblies are labor intensive to manufacture due to the need to smoothly machine protruding screw ends.